Environmental Policy and the Pursuit of Sustainability

Environmental Policy and the Pursuit of Sustainability

Author: Chelsea Schelly

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-02-23

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1351584766

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It is increasingly apparent that human activities are not suitable for sustaining a healthy global environment. From energy development to resource extraction to use of land and water, humans are having a devastating effect on the earth’s ability to sustain human societies and quality lives. Many approaches to changing the negative environmental consequences of human activities focus on one of two options, emphasizing either technological fixes or individual behavior change to reduce environmental harms through sustainable consumption habits. This book takes a different approach, focusing on the role of environmental policy in shaping the possibilities for and creating hindrances to pursuing more sustainable use of environmental resources. This unique compilation examines environmental policy through empirical case studies, demonstrating through each particular example how environmental policies are formed, how they operate, what they do in terms of shaping behaviors and future trajectories, and how they intersect with other social dynamics such as politics, power, social norms, and social organization. By providing case studies from both the United States and Mexico, this book provides a cross-national perspective on current environmental policies and their role in creating and limiting sustainable human futures. Organized around four key parts – Water; Land; Health and Wellbeing; and Resilience – and with a central theme of environmental justice and equity, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental policy and sustainability.


Book Synopsis Environmental Policy and the Pursuit of Sustainability by : Chelsea Schelly

Download or read book Environmental Policy and the Pursuit of Sustainability written by Chelsea Schelly and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-23 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is increasingly apparent that human activities are not suitable for sustaining a healthy global environment. From energy development to resource extraction to use of land and water, humans are having a devastating effect on the earth’s ability to sustain human societies and quality lives. Many approaches to changing the negative environmental consequences of human activities focus on one of two options, emphasizing either technological fixes or individual behavior change to reduce environmental harms through sustainable consumption habits. This book takes a different approach, focusing on the role of environmental policy in shaping the possibilities for and creating hindrances to pursuing more sustainable use of environmental resources. This unique compilation examines environmental policy through empirical case studies, demonstrating through each particular example how environmental policies are formed, how they operate, what they do in terms of shaping behaviors and future trajectories, and how they intersect with other social dynamics such as politics, power, social norms, and social organization. By providing case studies from both the United States and Mexico, this book provides a cross-national perspective on current environmental policies and their role in creating and limiting sustainable human futures. Organized around four key parts – Water; Land; Health and Wellbeing; and Resilience – and with a central theme of environmental justice and equity, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental policy and sustainability.

Pursuing Sustainability

Pursuing Sustainability

Author: Pamela Matson

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2016-03-29

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1400881218

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An essential guide to sustainable development for students and practitioners Sustainability is a global imperative and a scientific challenge like no other. This concise guide provides students and practitioners with a strategic framework for linking knowledge with action in the pursuit of sustainable development, and serves as an invaluable companion to more narrowly focused courses dealing with sustainability in particular sectors such as energy, food, water, and housing, or in particular regions of the world. Written by leading experts, Pursuing Sustainability shows how more inclusive and interdisciplinary approaches and systems perspectives can help you achieve your sustainability objectives. It stresses the need for understanding how capital assets are linked to sustainability goals through the complex adaptive dynamics of social-environmental systems, how committed people can use governance processes to alter those dynamics, and how successful interventions can be shaped through collaborations among researchers and practitioners on the ground. The ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate students and an invaluable resource for anyone working in this fast-growing field, Pursuing Sustainability also features case studies, a glossary, and suggestions for further reading. Provides a strategic framework for linking knowledge with action Draws on the latest cutting-edge science and practices Serves as the ideal companion text to more narrowly focused courses Utilizes interdisciplinary approaches and systems perspectives Illustrates concepts with a core set of case studies used throughout the book Written by world authorities on sustainability An online illustration package is available to professors


Book Synopsis Pursuing Sustainability by : Pamela Matson

Download or read book Pursuing Sustainability written by Pamela Matson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential guide to sustainable development for students and practitioners Sustainability is a global imperative and a scientific challenge like no other. This concise guide provides students and practitioners with a strategic framework for linking knowledge with action in the pursuit of sustainable development, and serves as an invaluable companion to more narrowly focused courses dealing with sustainability in particular sectors such as energy, food, water, and housing, or in particular regions of the world. Written by leading experts, Pursuing Sustainability shows how more inclusive and interdisciplinary approaches and systems perspectives can help you achieve your sustainability objectives. It stresses the need for understanding how capital assets are linked to sustainability goals through the complex adaptive dynamics of social-environmental systems, how committed people can use governance processes to alter those dynamics, and how successful interventions can be shaped through collaborations among researchers and practitioners on the ground. The ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate students and an invaluable resource for anyone working in this fast-growing field, Pursuing Sustainability also features case studies, a glossary, and suggestions for further reading. Provides a strategic framework for linking knowledge with action Draws on the latest cutting-edge science and practices Serves as the ideal companion text to more narrowly focused courses Utilizes interdisciplinary approaches and systems perspectives Illustrates concepts with a core set of case studies used throughout the book Written by world authorities on sustainability An online illustration package is available to professors

Energy

Energy

Author: Robert Bent

Publisher:

Published: 2002-05

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13:

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Why plant trees that only provide shade when they could yield fruit as well? Why not take advantage of sunny patches at the outskirts of parking lots to grow carrots and strawberries, free for the harvesting? The idea that public land could be used creatively to grow fresh food for local citizens was beginning to gain traction when Public Produce was first published in 2009, but there were few concrete examples of action. Today, things are different: fruits and vegetables are thriving in parks, plazas, along our streets, and around our civic buildings. This revised edition profiles numerous communities and community officials that are rethinking the role of public space in cities, and how our most revered urban gathering spots might nourish both body and soul. Taking readers from inspiration to implementation, Public Produce is chock full of tantalizing images and hearty lessons for bringing agriculture back into our cities.


Book Synopsis Energy by : Robert Bent

Download or read book Energy written by Robert Bent and published by . This book was released on 2002-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why plant trees that only provide shade when they could yield fruit as well? Why not take advantage of sunny patches at the outskirts of parking lots to grow carrots and strawberries, free for the harvesting? The idea that public land could be used creatively to grow fresh food for local citizens was beginning to gain traction when Public Produce was first published in 2009, but there were few concrete examples of action. Today, things are different: fruits and vegetables are thriving in parks, plazas, along our streets, and around our civic buildings. This revised edition profiles numerous communities and community officials that are rethinking the role of public space in cities, and how our most revered urban gathering spots might nourish both body and soul. Taking readers from inspiration to implementation, Public Produce is chock full of tantalizing images and hearty lessons for bringing agriculture back into our cities.

Greening Environmental Policy

Greening Environmental Policy

Author: Frank Fischer

Publisher: SAGE Publications Limited

Published: 1995-06-08

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781853963100

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Sustainable development has become the primary focus of national and international environmental policy. Designed as a common global strategy for industrial and industrializing countries, some see it as offering environmental protection without sacrificing economic growth. But sustainability has become a hotly contested concept. As its critics point out, sustainable development seeks to achieve environmental protection without confronting the tough choices facing modern corporate-industrial society and its consumption-driven way of life. To what degree is the existing system itself responsible for the environmental crisis? Can we achieve a sustainable future merely by tagging environmental requirements onto the existing industrial order? Or must we address the political-economic system itself? Broadly committed to the goals and values of a green political perspective, the chapters in this book show the environmental crisis to be essentially a political-economic crisis. The pursuit of sustainability cannot proceed without significant changes in our economic enterprises, public institutions and personal lives. Reaching beyond the contradictions of sustainable development, the authors explore the kinds of political arrangements needed to throw open sustainability to wide-ranging debate, both national and international. They advance alternative environmental policy-making processes designed to forge a genuine political consensus around these questions, as well as institutional, cultural and behavioural strategies capable of translating it into effective policy solutions. Fundamental to these strategies, a progressive commitment to participatory democracy is seen to provide the surest footing for both the articulation and realization of a sustainable future.


Book Synopsis Greening Environmental Policy by : Frank Fischer

Download or read book Greening Environmental Policy written by Frank Fischer and published by SAGE Publications Limited. This book was released on 1995-06-08 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable development has become the primary focus of national and international environmental policy. Designed as a common global strategy for industrial and industrializing countries, some see it as offering environmental protection without sacrificing economic growth. But sustainability has become a hotly contested concept. As its critics point out, sustainable development seeks to achieve environmental protection without confronting the tough choices facing modern corporate-industrial society and its consumption-driven way of life. To what degree is the existing system itself responsible for the environmental crisis? Can we achieve a sustainable future merely by tagging environmental requirements onto the existing industrial order? Or must we address the political-economic system itself? Broadly committed to the goals and values of a green political perspective, the chapters in this book show the environmental crisis to be essentially a political-economic crisis. The pursuit of sustainability cannot proceed without significant changes in our economic enterprises, public institutions and personal lives. Reaching beyond the contradictions of sustainable development, the authors explore the kinds of political arrangements needed to throw open sustainability to wide-ranging debate, both national and international. They advance alternative environmental policy-making processes designed to forge a genuine political consensus around these questions, as well as institutional, cultural and behavioural strategies capable of translating it into effective policy solutions. Fundamental to these strategies, a progressive commitment to participatory democracy is seen to provide the surest footing for both the articulation and realization of a sustainable future.

The Sustainability Handbook

The Sustainability Handbook

Author: William R. Blackburn

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-05-23

Total Pages: 823

ISBN-13: 1136552022

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The Sustainability Handbook covers all the challenges, complexities and benefits of sustainability for businesses, governments and other organizations. It provides a blueprint for how organizations can reach or exceed economic, social and environmental excellence. It offers a host of practical approaches and tools including a model sustainability policy for organizations, summaries of sustainability codes and tips on selecting them, an extensive collection of metrics and a wealth of supplementary reference material. This is the essential reference for every organization in pursuit of sustainability.


Book Synopsis The Sustainability Handbook by : William R. Blackburn

Download or read book The Sustainability Handbook written by William R. Blackburn and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-23 with total page 823 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sustainability Handbook covers all the challenges, complexities and benefits of sustainability for businesses, governments and other organizations. It provides a blueprint for how organizations can reach or exceed economic, social and environmental excellence. It offers a host of practical approaches and tools including a model sustainability policy for organizations, summaries of sustainability codes and tips on selecting them, an extensive collection of metrics and a wealth of supplementary reference material. This is the essential reference for every organization in pursuit of sustainability.

Struggles and Successes in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development

Struggles and Successes in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development

Author: Tay Keong Tan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-03

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 135114054X

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The challenges associated with the struggles for attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and objectives are as diverse and complex as the variety of human societies, national conditions and natural ecosystems worldwide. Despite decades of economic growth and technological advances, our world is plagued by poverty, hunger, disease, conflicts and inequality, and many societies are under the strain of environmental changes and governance failure. Such global-scale challenges call for the SDGs to be translated beyond bold concepts and aspirational targets into concrete programs and feasible plans that are substantively valuable, locally acceptable, pragmatic and operationally implementable. In the pursuit of the SDGs, positive results are far from guaranteed. Success is uncertain. Instead, the path forward requires difficult learning, experimentation and adaptation by multiple stakeholders. Loss and sacrifice are foreseeable and often inevitable. This important book captures the lessons from ongoing struggles and the early successes. Productive failures and emerging practices are identified, analyzed and promulgated for interdisciplinary learning by, and for the inspiration of, like-minded individuals, organizations, communities and nations worldwide. They can also inform and enrich the curricula in universities, training institutions and schools to prepare future generations of citizens, leaders and activists with the ethos and values of sustainability and social responsibility. The book offers a platform for academics, practitioners and concerned global citizens to identify pathways forward on the immense challenges of sustainability.


Book Synopsis Struggles and Successes in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development by : Tay Keong Tan

Download or read book Struggles and Successes in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development written by Tay Keong Tan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-03 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The challenges associated with the struggles for attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and objectives are as diverse and complex as the variety of human societies, national conditions and natural ecosystems worldwide. Despite decades of economic growth and technological advances, our world is plagued by poverty, hunger, disease, conflicts and inequality, and many societies are under the strain of environmental changes and governance failure. Such global-scale challenges call for the SDGs to be translated beyond bold concepts and aspirational targets into concrete programs and feasible plans that are substantively valuable, locally acceptable, pragmatic and operationally implementable. In the pursuit of the SDGs, positive results are far from guaranteed. Success is uncertain. Instead, the path forward requires difficult learning, experimentation and adaptation by multiple stakeholders. Loss and sacrifice are foreseeable and often inevitable. This important book captures the lessons from ongoing struggles and the early successes. Productive failures and emerging practices are identified, analyzed and promulgated for interdisciplinary learning by, and for the inspiration of, like-minded individuals, organizations, communities and nations worldwide. They can also inform and enrich the curricula in universities, training institutions and schools to prepare future generations of citizens, leaders and activists with the ethos and values of sustainability and social responsibility. The book offers a platform for academics, practitioners and concerned global citizens to identify pathways forward on the immense challenges of sustainability.

Exploring Sustainable Consumption

Exploring Sustainable Consumption

Author: Maurie J. Cohen

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2001-09

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780080439204

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Consumerism is increasingly recognized as a major drain on global resources and the search for sustainable consumption is emerging as a key policy issue. This text locates the problem within a specific history and recruits specialist opinions from a variety of disciplines.


Book Synopsis Exploring Sustainable Consumption by : Maurie J. Cohen

Download or read book Exploring Sustainable Consumption written by Maurie J. Cohen and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2001-09 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consumerism is increasingly recognized as a major drain on global resources and the search for sustainable consumption is emerging as a key policy issue. This text locates the problem within a specific history and recruits specialist opinions from a variety of disciplines.

Sustainability and the U.S. EPA

Sustainability and the U.S. EPA

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-10-08

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 0309212529

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Sustainability is based on a simple and long-recognized factual premise: Everything that humans require for their survival and well-being depends, directly or indirectly, on the natural environment. The environment provides the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Recognizing the importance of sustainability to its work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to create programs and applications in a variety of areas to better incorporate sustainability into decision-making at the agency. To further strengthen the scientific basis for sustainability as it applies to human health and environmental protection, the EPA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to provide a framework for incorporating sustainability into the EPA's principles and decision-making. This framework, Sustainability and the U.S. EPA, provides recommendations for a sustainability approach that both incorporates and goes beyond an approach based on assessing and managing the risks posed by pollutants that has largely shaped environmental policy since the 1980s. Although risk-based methods have led to many successes and remain important tools, the report concludes that they are not adequate to address many of the complex problems that put current and future generations at risk, such as depletion of natural resources, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. Moreover, sophisticated tools are increasingly available to address cross-cutting, complex, and challenging issues that go beyond risk management. The report recommends that EPA formally adopt as its sustainability paradigm the widely used "three pillars" approach, which means considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of an action or decision. Health should be expressly included in the "social" pillar. EPA should also articulate its vision for sustainability and develop a set of sustainability principles that would underlie all agency policies and programs.


Book Synopsis Sustainability and the U.S. EPA by : National Research Council

Download or read book Sustainability and the U.S. EPA written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-10-08 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainability is based on a simple and long-recognized factual premise: Everything that humans require for their survival and well-being depends, directly or indirectly, on the natural environment. The environment provides the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Recognizing the importance of sustainability to its work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to create programs and applications in a variety of areas to better incorporate sustainability into decision-making at the agency. To further strengthen the scientific basis for sustainability as it applies to human health and environmental protection, the EPA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to provide a framework for incorporating sustainability into the EPA's principles and decision-making. This framework, Sustainability and the U.S. EPA, provides recommendations for a sustainability approach that both incorporates and goes beyond an approach based on assessing and managing the risks posed by pollutants that has largely shaped environmental policy since the 1980s. Although risk-based methods have led to many successes and remain important tools, the report concludes that they are not adequate to address many of the complex problems that put current and future generations at risk, such as depletion of natural resources, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. Moreover, sophisticated tools are increasingly available to address cross-cutting, complex, and challenging issues that go beyond risk management. The report recommends that EPA formally adopt as its sustainability paradigm the widely used "three pillars" approach, which means considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of an action or decision. Health should be expressly included in the "social" pillar. EPA should also articulate its vision for sustainability and develop a set of sustainability principles that would underlie all agency policies and programs.

Sweden and Ecological Governance

Sweden and Ecological Governance

Author: Lennart Lundqvist

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780719069024

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The author examines policies and strategies for ecologically rational governance and uses the Swedish case study to ask if it is possible to move from a traditional environmental policy to a broad, integrated pursuit of sustainable development, as illustrated through the 'Sustainable Sweden' programme.


Book Synopsis Sweden and Ecological Governance by : Lennart Lundqvist

Download or read book Sweden and Ecological Governance written by Lennart Lundqvist and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author examines policies and strategies for ecologically rational governance and uses the Swedish case study to ask if it is possible to move from a traditional environmental policy to a broad, integrated pursuit of sustainable development, as illustrated through the 'Sustainable Sweden' programme.

Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously, second edition

Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously, second edition

Author: Kent E. Portney

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 0262518279

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A theoretically driven comparison of sustainability programs in American cities, updated with the latest research and additional case studies. Today most major cities have undertaken some form of sustainability initiative. Yet there have been few systematic comparisons across cities, or theoretically grounded considerations of what works and what does not, and why. In Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously, Kent Portney addresses this gap, offering a comprehensive overview and analysis of sustainability programs and policies in American cities. After discussing the conceptual underpinnings of sustainability, he examines the local aspects of sustainability; considers the measurement of sustainability and offers an index of “serious” sustainability for the fifty-five largest cities in the country; examines the relationship between sustainability and economic growth; and discusses issues of governance, equity, and implementation. He also offers extensive case studies, with separate chapters on large, medium-size, and small cities, and provides an empirically grounded analysis of why some large cities are more ambitious than others in their sustainability efforts. This second edition has been updated throughout, with new material that draws on the latest research. It also offers numerous additional case studies, a new chapter on management and implementation issues, and a greatly expanded comparative analysis of big-city sustainability initiatives. Portney shows how cities use the broad rubric of sustainability to achieve particular political ends, and he dispels the notion that only cities that are politically liberal are interested in sustainability. Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously draws a roadmap for effective sustainability initiatives.


Book Synopsis Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously, second edition by : Kent E. Portney

Download or read book Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously, second edition written by Kent E. Portney and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A theoretically driven comparison of sustainability programs in American cities, updated with the latest research and additional case studies. Today most major cities have undertaken some form of sustainability initiative. Yet there have been few systematic comparisons across cities, or theoretically grounded considerations of what works and what does not, and why. In Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously, Kent Portney addresses this gap, offering a comprehensive overview and analysis of sustainability programs and policies in American cities. After discussing the conceptual underpinnings of sustainability, he examines the local aspects of sustainability; considers the measurement of sustainability and offers an index of “serious” sustainability for the fifty-five largest cities in the country; examines the relationship between sustainability and economic growth; and discusses issues of governance, equity, and implementation. He also offers extensive case studies, with separate chapters on large, medium-size, and small cities, and provides an empirically grounded analysis of why some large cities are more ambitious than others in their sustainability efforts. This second edition has been updated throughout, with new material that draws on the latest research. It also offers numerous additional case studies, a new chapter on management and implementation issues, and a greatly expanded comparative analysis of big-city sustainability initiatives. Portney shows how cities use the broad rubric of sustainability to achieve particular political ends, and he dispels the notion that only cities that are politically liberal are interested in sustainability. Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously draws a roadmap for effective sustainability initiatives.